Where Love and Lawlessness Meet

It seems Omnimystery News, which first alerted me to this development, wasn’t the only blog to miss seeing the recent announcement of books and authors that won the 2013 RT (Romantic Times) Reviewers’ Choice Awards; I didn’t spot it either. Among the victors were six of particular interest to Rap Sheet readers.

• Amateur Sleuth: Bled & Breakfest, by Michelle Rowen (Obsidian)
• Contemporary Mystery: Lost, by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur)
• First Mystery: How to Be a Good Wife, by Emma Chapman
(St. Martin’s Press)
• Historical Mystery: The Chalice, by Nancy Bilyeau (Touchstone)
• Suspense/Thriller: The Shining Girls, by Lauren Beukes (Mulholland)
• Inspirational Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: Fear Has a Name,
by Creston Mapes (David C. Cook)

Click here to see all of this year’s winners and nominees.

Left Coast, Right Choices

Last night, during the 24th annual Left Coast Crime convention, held in beautiful Monterey, California, the winners in four categories of awards were announced. They are:

The Lefty (best humorous mystery novel):
The Good Cop, by Brad Parks (Minotaur)

Also nominated: The Hen of the Baskervilles, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur); The Fame Thief, by Timothy Hallinan (Soho Crime); The Last Word, by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster); and Dying for a Daiquiri, by Cindy Sample (Cindy Sample Books)

The Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award (for best historical mystery novel covering events before 1960):
Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses, by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Heirs and Graces, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime); His Majesty’s Hope, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam); Murder as a Fine Art, by David Morrell (Mulholland); Covenant with Hell, by Priscilla Royal (Poisoned Pen Press); and Leaving Everything Most Loved, by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins)

The Squid (best mystery set within the United States):
Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)

Also nominated: W Is for Wasted, by Sue Grafton (Putnam/Marian Wood); Purgatory Key, by Darrell James (Midnight Ink); The Wrong Girl, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge); and A Killing at Cotton Hill, by Terry Shames (Seventh Street)

The Calamari (best mystery set anywhere else in the world):
How the Light Gets In, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Murder Below Montparnasse, by Cara Black (Soho Crime); Hour of the Rat, by Lisa Brackmann (Soho Crime); As She Left It, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink); and Mykonos After Midnight, by Jeffrey Siger (Poisoned Pen Press)

Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners.

Sure Shots

In addition to this morning’s news about Grand Master Award winners, British critic and columnist Mike Ripley has also released the list of his 2013 Shots of the Year Award recipients, in seven categories. He’s made some excellent selections, honoring fiction by Martin Cruz Smith, Robert Ryan, M.D. Villiers, and others. But of course, I would expect no less from an authority in this field such as Ripley.

If you’re looking for gifts to present to crime-fiction fans in your family this Christmas, start with Ripley’s list.

Thomas Lands the Marsh

Craig Sisterson, author of the Down Under blog Crime Watch, has announced that Paul Thomas’ Death on Demand (Hachette NZ) is the winner of New Zealand’s 2013 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. That 2012 work is the fourth installment in Thomas’ series about unorthodox Maori police detective Tito Ihaka, and the first new entry to appear in a decade and a half.

“Ihaka is a tremendous character in New Zealand fiction, an anarchic knight errant of a copper who gives readers a feeling of a time bomb waiting to detonate,” says Sisterson, who’s also the judging convener of the Ngaio Marsh prize. “It was terrific to see Thomas bring him back in Death on Demand, particularly as that duo forever changed the landscape of New Zealand crime writing in the mid-1990s, tearing our genre from its cozy confines into mayhem-filled modernity.”

Thomas’ novel was up against three other strong contenders:

• The Laughterhouse, by Paul Cleave (Penguin)
• Faceless, by Vanda Symon (Penguin)
• Little Sister, by Julian Novitz (Random House)

Having been invited to help judge this year’s Ngaio Marsh competition (thanks, Craig!), I read all four of the nominated novels. It was a delightful opportunity to begin exploring New Zealand crime fiction, an area of this genre with which I’d had comparatively little contact before. I was not surprised to learn from Sisterson that “this year has seen the closest results in the history of the award.” Indeed, all four of the nominees were entertaining and engrossing, though I agree that Death on Demand deserved its win. I’m hoping Thomas, having resurrected his sleuth, will go on to deliver more entries in that series. You can sign me up for copies right now.

The Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel was established in 2010. It has previously gone to Neil Cross (Luther: The Calling), Paul Cleave (Blood Men), and Alix Bosco (Cut & Run). In addition to the prize itself, author Thomas will receive a complete set of Dame Ngaio’s novels, courtesy of publisher HarperCollins, and a check for $1,000 from the Christchurch Writers Festival Trust.

Get Your Irish Up

Author-blogger Declan Burke reports that The Doll’s House, by Louise Phillips (Hachette Ireland), has won the 2013 Ireland AM Irish Crime Novel Award. That announcement was made last night during the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards ceremony.

Phillips’ novel beat out five other well-regarded works to capture this commendation: The Twelfth Department, by William Ryan (Pan Macmillan/Mantle); The Convictions of John Delahunt, by Andrew Hughes (Doubleday Ireland); Inquest, by Paul Carson (Century); The Stranger You Know, by Jane Casey (Ebury Press); and Irregulars, by Kevin McCarthy (New Island Books).

During the same ceremony, Irish author John Banville (who writes crime fiction as “Benjamin Black”) was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bullet Points: Pre-Turkey Day Edition

Having now concluded my altogether impromptu weeklong vacation, I’m back to (among other things) the business of collecting crime-fiction news bits that don’t necessarily merit their own posts.

• Craig Sisterson, the energetic editor and writer behind New Zealand’s annual Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, reports that “this year has seen the closest results in the history of the award. The winner, by a whisker, will be announced on 2 December.” In the meantime, check that link above for an assessment of all four contestants for the 2013 prize. And click here to learn how you can pick up a free, “personally signed copy of the winning book.”

• Crime Scraps’ Uriah Robinson (aka Norman Price) brings word that The Missing File, by D.A. (Dror) Mishani, has become the first Israeli work to win Sweden’s Martin Beck Award for best translated crime novel. That book, published in Sweden as Utsuddade spar (and translated by Nils Larsson), had been shortlisted for the prize along with translations of S.J. Bolton’s Immortal, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Jo Nesbø’s Police, and Ferdinand von Schirach’s Case Collini. Meanwhile, Christoffer Carlsson captured the 2013 Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for his book Den osynlige mannen från Salem (The Invisible Man from Salem), beating out works by Arne Dahl, Håkan Nesser, Johan Theorin, and Katarina Wennstam. UPDATE: Shotsmag Confidential adds that Thomas Engström’s novel Väster om friheten (West of Liberty) has picked up the Swedish Crime Academy’s award for Best Debut Novel.

• Kirkus Reviews has proclaimed its favorite mysteries and thrillers of 2013, including novels by Max Barry, James Lee Burke, Meg Gardiner, Stephen King, Maurizio de Giovanni, and Kevin Egan. I didn’t have any input into these selections. My own list of favorites from the last 12 months should be posted on the Kirkus site tomorrow.

• Speaking of Kirkus, another of its contributors, Clayton Moore, offers up a new interview with Charles Ardai, the editor-publisher of Hard Case Crime. The biggest part of their posted exchange covers the “no less than eight under-the-radar novels” Michael Crichton penned as “John Lange,” and which Hard Case is republishing. However, they also talk about some pending releases (including Lawrence Block’s Borderline) and such “lost” works as Charles Willeford’s Grimmhaven.

• Watch for the December 17 debut, on PBS-TV channels, of How Sherlock Changed the World. Described as “a new two-hour special about the world’s most legendary fictional detective,” it “reveals the astonishing impact Holmes has had on the development of real criminal investigation and forensic techniques. From blood to ballistics, from fingerprints to footprints, Sherlock Holmes was 120 years ahead of his time, protecting crime scenes from contamination, looking for minute traces of evidence, and searching for what the eye couldn't see.” Click here to watch a short segment from the special, in which forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee talks about how Holmes’ deductive reasoning has impacted modern crime-scene studies.

• John Harvey has won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize, which celebrates fiction that “breaks the mould or opens up new possibilities for the novel form.” Congratulations, sir!

• I’m late in noting this, but publisher Open Road Integrated Media is “celebrating mysteries and history from the 1890s to today” with a giveaway contest offering eight titles from its e-book list. According to its posted rules, the contest will end this coming Friday night, November 29. Click here to find out more.

• Spinetingler Magazine picks “10 Underestimated Noir Authors Everyone Should Know.” I’m pleased to say that I have read fiction by most, though not all, of the authors named.

• It’s the crime drama that won’t die! After already being cancelled twice by AMC-TV, The Killing--a pale U.S. version of the popular Danish show Forbrydelsen--is coming back for a “fourth and final limited season,” this time on Netflix. “The six-episode series finale, produced by Fox Television Studios, will be made available only to Netflix streaming subscribers,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

• Crimepieces blogger Sarah Ward has posted a good two-part report about this last weekend’s Iceland Noir festival of crime fiction, held in Reykjavik. Part I can found enjoyed here, while Part II is here. Ward promises to put up a final installment in this series tomorrow.

• Quentin Bates, author of the Sergeant Gunnhildur Gísladóttir mysteries (Chilled to the Bone), delivers his own early thoughts on the Iceland Noir conference here.

• Author-screenwriter Lee Goldberg has spent much of the last week looking back appreciatively at vintage TV themes. Here he recalls “12 TV Shows That Changed Their Theme Song,” among them Kojak and Magnum, P.I. Here are 14 more programs that replaced their original themes, including The Bold Ones and Nash Bridges; and look here to find eight more examples, the most infamous of that bunch being Hardcastle and McCormick. Click here to revisit TV series that removed lyrics from their openings, and here to be reminded of shows that changed both their themes and their names.

• Max Allan Collins has reprinted an essay in his blog that originally appeared in Publishers Weekly. Titled “Why I Write,” it’s sure to ring a familiar chord with veteran scribblers. Check it out here.

• Ali Karim reports for Shotsmag Confidential on a recent visit by Canadian mystery novelist Louise Penny to Heffers Bookstore in Cambridge, England, where she talked about her writing. “This was the only UK event she is appearing at this year,” says Karim, “due to deadline pressures on her current work in progress.”

• And to keep you busy during any free time you might have in the foreseeable future, note that the first quarterly edition of All Due Respect is now available for Kindles. Also, the third collection of stories from Beat to a Pulp has recently been released.

A Good Turn for “Bad Country”

Native Texan C.B. McKenzie has been named as the winner of this year’s Tony Hillerman Prize for best first mystery novel. That announcement was made in association with last weekend’s 2013 Tony Hillerman Writers Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

McKenzie, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and currently teaches Rhetoric at the City University of New York, earned this commendation for his novel, Bad Country. As part of his reward, McKenzie will receive a contract for publication with Thomas Dunne Books/Minotaur Books and a $10,000 advance.

The Hillerman Prize is named, of course, in honor of the late New Mexico author and creator of the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mysteries. It’s presented annually to “the best debut mystery set in the [American] Southwest.” Previous recipients were Andrew Hunt’s City of Saints, Tricia Fields’ The Territory, Roy Chaney’s The Ragged End of Nowhere, and Christine Barber’s The Replacement Child.

If you’d like to submit a novel for the 2014 Hillerman Prize, do so by June 1 of next year. Rules and guidelines can be found here.

Also during the Hillerman conference, radio personality Mary-Charlotte Domandi was given the 2013 Leaphorn Award for her work in promoting authors and reading.

Bullet Points: Post-Veterans Day Edition

• Romantic Times Book Reviews has announced the contenders for its 2013 Reviewers’ Choice Awards. There are five categories of mystery and thriller works. Among the challengers are Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In, Jeri Westerson’s Shadow of the Alchemist, Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls, and Emma Chapman’s How to Be a Good Wife. Click here to find the full run of RT’s nominees.

• Author Reed Farrel Coleman chooses his seven favorite noirish novels of the last decade, for the Mulholland Books blog. Included on that list: Red Cat, by Peter Spiegelman; The Shanghai Moon, by S.J. Rozan; and Closing Time, by Jim Fusilli.

• Meanwhile, The Book Haven presents its list of the “Top 10 Spy Novels of All Time.” I’m very pleased to see G.K. Chesterton and Alistair MacLean both represented.

• This was before my time, but back in the fall of 1954, a syndicated TV series debuted. It was titled Sherlock Holmes and starred Ronald Howard (son of the more famous Leslie Howard) as Arthur Conan Doyle’s brilliant sleuth, with Howard Marion Crawford appearing as Dr. John H. Watson. Thirty-nine episodes of that series (which Wikipedia observes was the only American-made Holmes TV drama made before 2012’s Elementary) were shot--at least most of which have suddenly become available on YouTube. Check out the pilot here. Links will lead you to later episodes. I haven’t had a chance to yet to watch all of those half-hour shows, but I look forward to doing so soon.

• The 12th of edition of Crimewave, subtitled “Hurt,” has just been released. Its contents include stories by Christopher Priest, Melanie Tem, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Stephen Volk. Order a copy here.

• Jim Napier has a fine review, in January Magazine, of Ian Rankin’s new John Rebus novel, Saints of the Shadow Bible. Read it here.

• UK author John Harvey has just signed a contract to produce his 11th and final novel about Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick, the Nottingham cop introduced in 1989’s Lonely Hearts. “The novel, Darkness, Darkness ...,” explains the Euro Crime blog, “sees Resnick revisiting a cold case focused around the 1984 miner’s strike.” The 10th Resnick outing, Cold in Hand, was published in 2008.

• Former Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury is not happy with CBS-TV’s plans to reboot her 1984-1996 mystery series, this time with The Help’s Octavia Spencer starring as a self-published mystery novelist fascinated by true crimes. “I think it’s a mistake to call it Murder, She Wrote,” Lansbury tells The Guardian, “because Murder, She Wrote will always be about Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person ... So I’m sorry that they have to use the title--even though they have access to it and it’s their right.”

• Here’s your chance to collaborate with British novelist Ann Cleeves on a short story. “The winning work,” explains Crime Fiction Lover, “will be published in an anthology Cleeves is putting together--a great opportunity for new crime writing talents out there. ... The finished piece can be up to 1,000 words, and the closing date for entries is 29 November 2013.” Check out the link above for more info.

• Novelists Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, who--under the pseudonym Michael Stanley--compose the African Detective Kubu mysteries (Deadly Harvest), provide an interesting overview here of today’s South African crime-fiction scene.

• Insane as this notion sounds, evidence suggests that George W. Bush was really trying to bring about the end of the world.

• As blogger Crime Fiction Girl notes, “Entries are now open for the 2014 [Crime Writers’ Association] Debut Dagger competition. The competition is open to unpublished writers with entries judged by a panel of top crime editors and agents, and the shortlist sent to publishers and agents. First prize is £700, sponsored by Orion, and all shortlisted entries receive a professional assessment of their work. The entry fee is £25 and you’ll need to send the first 3,000 words (or fewer) of your novel along with a 500-1,000-word synopsis of the rest of the novel.” This entry period ends on January 31, 2014.

• And this comes from In Reference to Murder: “Early bird registration for the Malice Domestic 26 conference is the end of the year, after which rates will go up on January 1st. Everyone who registers before the end of the year will receive an Agatha Nomination Ballot in the beginning of 2014. Malice Domestic is also participating in Maryland Public Television’s Holiday Gift Auction which helps support programming, outreach and education. Two comprehensive registration passes for Malice 26 (and other great items) are up for auction.”

Battle for the Marsh

New Zealand journalist and crime-fiction blogger Craig Sisterson has announced the shortlist of contenders for the 2013 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. This prize, named in honor of Christchurch author Dame Ngaio Marsh and first presented in 2010, “recognizes excellence in New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writing.” All of the latest nominees were originally published in New Zealand in 2012:

• Death on Demand, by Paul Thomas (Hachette NZ)
• The Laughterhouse, by Paul Cleave (Penguin)
• Faceless, by Vanda Symon (Penguin)
• Little Sister, by Julian Novitz (Random House)

“We are thrilled with the quality and diversity of the shortlisted books this year,” says Sisterson, the organizer of this competition. “Modern crime fiction is now a broad church, where talented authors raise questions and cast light on a variety of societal and other issues through the prism of an exciting, page-turning story. The four shortlisted books all demonstrate this well, each in their own way. It will be a tough call for the judges.”

The winner of this year’s prize will be declared on December 2.

Bullet Points: Spooks and Goblins Edition

Before the children start showing up at my doorstep, ready to clean me out of every sugary substance I’ve amassed for this holiday, let me pull together a few crime-fiction news items I have not yet mentioned.

• We now know which books are in the running to be named the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year. Per author-blogger Declan Burke, here are the nominees:

-- The Twelfth Department, by William Ryan (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)
-- The Convictions of John Delahunt, by Andrew Hughes
(Doubleday Ireland)
-- The Doll’s House, by Louise Phillips (Hachette Ireland)
-- Inquest, by Paul Carson (Century)
-- The Stranger You Know, by Jane Casey (Ebury Press)
-- Irregulars, by Kevin McCarthy (New Island Books)

I’m particularly pleased to see Irregulars as a finalist. I very much enjoyed McCarthy’s previous novel, 2010’s Peeler, which introduced early 20th-century Irish cop Sean O’Keefe. I have only recently been pouring through Irregulars, Peeler’s sequel--and what a dynamite read it is; more on that later. The winner of this prize, which is part of the annual Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards competition, will be announced on Tuesday, November 26. Online voting for these awards is open from October 31 to November 21. Click here to participate.

• Congratulations to Atticka Locke, who has won the 2013 Ernest J. Gaines Award for her novel The Cutting Season (2012).

• Today is your last opportunity to participate in The Rap Sheet’s survey to determine which were the best of Alistair MacLean’s more than two dozen adventure thrillers. Click here to make your preferences known. You can vote for one or more books. Results will be announced early next week.

• Michael Connelly’s Web site brings the news that Amazon Studios has “given the green light for the production” of Bosch, “based on [his] best-selling Harry Bosch book series and written by Emmy-nominated Eric Overmyer (The Wire, Treme) and Michael Connelly ...” The character of Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch will be played by Titus Welliver, who I first remember from the 2001 CBS-TV crime drama Big Apple, but who later showed up in a memorable role on Deadwood (along with Big Apple’s Kim Dickens). Asked how Amazon will offer a prospective Bosch series, Connelly explains: “We are producing the show for Amazon Studios, which means that when it is released it will be streamed off Amazon’s instant video service. This means you can watch it on your computer or digital device as well as on your television if you have it set up with an Amazon connection. Sometime early next year--probably in March--this pilot will be available for free viewing and comment. However, like HBO or Netflix or any cable provider, Amazon streaming is a subscription service provided under Amazon Prime. If Bosch goes to series a membership in Amazon Prime will be needed to watch it at some point.”

• Meanwhile, HBO-TV has released a new trailer for True Detective, its eight-episode, Louisiana-set crime drama starring Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, and Michelle Monaghan. The show will premiere on January 12, 2014. The trailer, which you can watch here, gives me hope that True Detective will be better than the usual, predictable small-screen drama. Fingers crossed.

• Flavorwire has posted the first trailer I’ve seen for the Kickstarter-funded Veronica Mars movie. That film is due out next spring.

• And Omnimystery News says “Netflix has announced that it has reached a deal with CBS to stream all 8 seasons of Dexter to its members in the U.S.”

• This is a potentially interesting shift of gears: “After making his name on crime dramas set in his native Boston,” /Film explains, “Dennis Lehane is getting his next bit of inspiration from outside the country. The Shutter Island author has been tapped to write Sony’s English-language remake of A Prophet (aka Un prophète), Jacques Audiard‘s acclaimed French crime drama.”

• Mike Ripley’s Top Notch Thrillers imprint is releasing new editions of two installments from TV writer James Mitchell’s five-book spin-off series based on Edward Woodward’s 1967-1972 series, Callan. On that program, Woodward (later to make a name for himself in The Equalizer) played “a reluctant professional killer for a shadowy branch of the British Government’s intelligence services known as ‘the Section.’” The Callan novels returning to print (and also debuting as e-books) are A Magnum for Schneider (aka Red File for Callan) and Russian Roulette. Nick Jones offers more information about the Callan novels in his blog, Existential Ennui.

• I confess, I didn’t know much about Robert Siodmak until I read Jake Hinkson’s profile in Criminal Element of this man he calls film noir’s greatest director.

• A tip of the hat to Kristopher Zgorski’s blog, BOLO Books, which recently celebrated its first blogiversary.

• Finally, I am sorry to hear that doctor-turned-novelist Michael Palmer has perished at 71 years of age. According to his middle son, Daniel, he died yesterday “of complications from a heart attack and stroke.” The Gumshoe Site’s Jiro Kimura recalls that Palmer “began writing while he was practicing internal medicine, starting [with] The Sisterhood (Bantam, 1982). ... He wrote 18 medical thrillers and the last two, Oath of Office (2012) and Political Suicide (2013), featured Dr. Lou Welcome, a physician in Washington, D.C.” Palmer’s 20th novel, Resistant, is scheduled for publication (by St. Martin’s Press) on May 20 of next year. I don’t think I ever met Palmer, but Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim, who says he was introduced to the author “at the very first ITW [International Thriller Writers] Thrillerfest held in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2006,” remembers Palmer as “a very nice guy, plus multi-talented” and “a real gentleman.”

Dolled Up and Daggered

During a notably glitzy event held this evening at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) announced the winners of its three remaining 2013 Dagger awards. Also named were the recipients of the 2013 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards. Thanks to correspondent Ali Karim (who was on the scene in his best bib and tucker), we have the full list of winners.

CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger:
Dead Lions, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: Rubbernecker, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam/Transworld); The Shining Girls, by Lauren Beukes (HarperCollins); and Rage Against the Dying, by Becky Masterman (Orion)

CWA John Creasey Dagger:
Norwegian by Night, by Derek B. Miller (Faber and Faber)

Also nominated: Something You Are, by Hanna Jameson (Head of Zeus); The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, by Malcolm Mackay (Mantle); and Shadow of the Rock, by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
Ghostman, by Roger Hobbs (Transworld)

Also nominated: Ratlines, by Stuart Neville (Random House); The Sentinel, by Mark Oldfield (Head of Zeus); and Capital Punishment, by Robert Wilson (Orion)

The Film Dagger: Skyfall

Also nominated: Jack Reacher; Killing Them Softly; Looper; and Seven Psychopaths

The TV Dagger: Broadchurch

Also nominated: Luther; Top of the Lake; The Fall; and Bletchley Circle

The International TV Dagger: The Killing 3

Also nominated: Homeland; Boardwalk Empire; and Arne Dahl

The Best Supporting Actor Dagger: Andrew Buchan for Broadchurch

Also nominated: Paul McGann for A Mother’s Son; Mandy Patinkin for Homeland; Warren Brown for Luther; and Roger Allam for Endeavour

The Best Supporting Actress Dagger:
Amelia Bullmore for Scott & Bailey

Also nominated: Pauline Quirke for Broadchurch; Holly Hunter for Top of the Lake; Jodie Whittaker for Broadchurch; and Ruth Wilson for Luther

The Best Actor Dagger: David Tennant for Broadchurch

Also nominated: Damien Lewis for Homeland; Idris Elba for Luther; Jason Isaacs for Case Histories; and Paddy Considine for The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane

The Best Actress Dagger: Olivia Colman for Broadchurch

Also nominated: Sofie Grabol for The Killing 3; Claire Danes for Homeland; Gillian Anderson for The Fall; and Lesley Sharp for Scott & Bailey

CWA Hall of Fame--“Living Legends”: Martina Cole and Wilbur Smith

Also nominated: Nicci French, Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, and Frederick Forsyth

Crime Thriller Book Club: The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, by Malcolm Mackay (Pan Books)

Also nominated: Trust Your Eyes, by Linwood Barclay (Orion); Dare Me, by Megan Abbott (Picador); Bryant and May and the Invisible Code, by Christopher Fowler (Transworld); City of Devils, by Diana Bretherick (Orion); and The Scent of Death, by Andrew Taylor (Harper Collins)

Film footage from tonight’s ceremony will be broadcast in the UK on ITV3 beginning at 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 27.

Congratulations to all of the contenders for this year’s prizes.

“Hill” Meets Hammett

From Jiro Kimura’s Gumshoe Site comes the news that Virginia author-editor Howard Owen has won the 2012 Hammett Prize for his 10th novel, Oregon Hill (Permanent Press). The Hammett is given out by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch. Today’s announcement was made during the Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) fall conference taking place in Somerset, New Jersey.

Also in contention for this year’s prize were Defending Jacob, by William Landay (Delacorte); Truth Like the Sun, by Jim Lynch (Knopf);  Patient Number 7, by Kurt Palka (McCelland & Stewart); and Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson (Grove).

Congratulations to Mr. Owen on this significant victory.

Ginsberg Lands the Parker

Members of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (SCIBA) met last evening to celebrate the winners of its 2013 book prizes. As the Los Angeles Times reports, the recipient of this year’s T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award is What the Heart Remembers, by Debra Ginsberg (NAL). Unfortunately, SoCal resident Ginsberg was not at the event to receive her commendation.

The other finalists in this same category were: Strawberry Yellow, by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park), and Suspect, by Robert Crais (Putnam). To see what books were vying for SCIBA awards in other categories, click here.

Gypsy Roaming Your Way

When we posted our list last Friday of who won the 2013 Shamus Awards, we neglected to mention an additional prize recipient. North Carolina writer Lynn C. Willis was named the winner of this year’s Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press Best First Private Eye Novel competition for the tentatively titled Wink of an Eye, introducing detective Gypsy Moran. This award includes a publishing contract. Congratulations to Ms. Willis!

And Finally, We Have the Anthonys

I’ve been watching the Bouchercon 2013 Facebook page to find out which authors and books have won this year’s Anthony Awards. Here are the results reported there.

Best Novel: The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Dare Me, by Megan Abbott (Reagan Arthur); Trinity Game, by Sean Chercover (Thomas & Mercer); Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown); and The Other Woman, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Best First Novel: The Expats, by Chris Pavone (Crown)

Also nominated: Don’t Ever Get Old, by Daniel Friedman (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne); The Professionals, by Owen Laukkanen (Putnam); The 500, by Matthew Quirk (Reagan Arthur); and Black Fridays, by Michael Sears (Putnam)

Best Paperback Original:
Big Maria, by Johnny Shaw (Thomas & Mercer)

Also nominated: Whiplash River, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Murder for Choir, by Joelle Charbonneau (Berkley Prime Crime); And She Was, by Alison Gaylin (Harper); and Blessed Are the Dead, by Malla Nunn (Emily Bestler)

Best Short Story: “Mischief in Mesopotamia,” by Dana Cameron (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November 2012)

Also nominated: “Kept in the Dark,” by Shelia Connolly (in Best New England Crime Stories 2013: Blood Moon, edited by Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler; Level Best);“The Lord Is My Shamus,” by Barb Goffman (in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press); “Peaches,” by Todd Robinson (Grift, Spring 2012); and “The Unremarkable Heart,” by Karin Slaughter (in Mystery Writers of America Presents: Vengeance, edited by Lee Child; Mulholland)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work: Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Atria/Emily Bestler)

Also nominated: Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950, edited by Joseph Goodrich (Perfect Crime); More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered, by D.P. Lyle (Medallion Press); The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie, edited by Mathew Prichard (Harper); and In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero, edited by Otto Penzler (Smart Pop)

Lifetime Achievement Award: Sue Grafton

David Thompson Special Services Award: Marv Lachman

Congratulations to all of the winners and other nominees!

Gumshoes Worth Praising

Thanks to a phone call from Ali Karim, The Rap Sheet’s correspondent at Bouchercon 2013 in Albany, New York, we can now report the winners of this year’s Shamus Awards. Those commendations were presented tonight during a banquet arranged by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA).

Best Hardcover P.I. Novel: Taken, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Also nominated: Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby, by Ace Atkins (Putnam); Hunting Rose, by Jack Fredrickson (Minotaur); Blues in the Night, by Dick Lochte (Severn House); and The Other Woman, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Best First P.I. Novel: Black Fridays, by Michael Sears (Putnam)

Also nominated: Hush Money, by Chuck Greaves (Minotaur); Murder Unscripted, by Clive Rosengren (Perfect Crime); Racing Sweetie the Devil, by Jaden Terrell (Permanent Press); and The Twenty-Year Death, by Ariel S. Winter (Hard Case Crime)

Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel: And She Was,
by Alison Gaylin (Harper)

Also nominated: Death Warmed Over, by Kevin J. Anderson (Kensington); Archie Meets Nero Wolfe, by Robert Goldsborough (The Mysterious Press/Open Road); False Negative, by Joseph Koenig (Hard Case Crime); and Pulse, by John Lutz (Kensington)

Best P.I. Short Story: “Ghost Negligence,” by John Shepphird (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], July/August 2012)

Also nominated: “The Sequel,” by Jeffery Deaver (The Strand Magazine, November-February 2012-2013); “After Cana,” by Terence Faherty (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October, 2012);  “O’Nelligan and the Lost Fates,” by Michael Nethercott (AHMM, March 2012); and “Illegitimati Non Carborundum,” by Stephen D. Rogers (Crimespree Magazine, May/June 2012)

Best Indie P.I. Novel: White Heat, by Paul D. Marks
(Timeless Skies)

Also nominated: Stranger in Town, by Cheryl Bradshaw (CreateSpace); Enamored, by O’Neil De Noux (CreateSpace); One-Eyed Jack, by Christopher J. Lynch (CreateSpace); and Devil May Care, by James Mullaney (James\Mullaney#Books)

The Eye (Lifetime Achievement Award): Loren D. Estleman

Congratulations to the winners and nominees alike!

Rewards and Rejoicing in Albany

On this first night of Bouchercon 2013 in Albany, New York, three different sets of prizes were handed out to authors and others. Thanks to Ali Karim, our correspondent on the spot (who also walked away with one of those awards!), we have the names of the winners.

MACAVITY AWARDS

Best Mystery Novel: The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown); The Blackhouse, by Peter May (Silver Oak); The Other Woman, by Hank Philippi Ryan (Forge); The Art Forger, by B.A. Shapiro (Algonquin); The Twenty-Year Death, by Ariel S. Winter (Hard Case Crime); and The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters (Quirk)

Best First Mystery Novel: Don’t Ever Get Old, by Daniel Friedman (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne)

Also nominated: Low Country Boil, by Susan M. Boyer (Henery Press); Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam); and The Expats, by Chris Pavone (Crown)

Best Mystery Non-Fiction: Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Atria/Emily Bestler)

Also nominated: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China, by Paul French (Penguin); and In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero, edited by Otto Penzler (BenBella/Smart Pop)

Best Mystery Short Story: “The Lord Is My Shamus,” by Barb Goffman (in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)

Also nominated: “The Unremarkable Heart,” by Karin Slaughter (in Mystery Writers of America Presents: Vengeance, edited by Lee Child; Mulholland); “Thea’s First Husband,” by B.K. Stevens (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2012); “When Duty Calls,” by Art Taylor (in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder); “Blind Justice,” by Jim Fusilli (n Mystery Writers of America Presents: Vengeance); and “The Sequel,” by Jeffery Deaver (The Strand Magazine, November-February 2012-2013)

Sue Feder Historical Memorial Award: An Unmarked Grave, by Charles Todd (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: A City of Broken Glass, by Rebecca Cantrell (Forge); Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam); The Confession, by Charles Todd (HarperCollins); and Elegy for Eddie, by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins)

BARRY AWARDS

Best Novel: The Blackhouse, by Peter May (Silver Oak)

Also nominated: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown); Trust Your Eyes, by Linwood Barclay (NAL); Defending Jacob, by William Landay (Delacorte); Live by Night, Dennis Lehane (Morrow); and Dead Scared, by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur)

Best First Novel: A Killing in the Hills, by Julia Keller (Minotaur)

Also nominated: The Yard, by Alex Grecian (Putnam); Sacrifice Fly, by Tim O’Mara (Minotaur); The Dark Winter, by David Mark (Blue Ridge Press); Black Fridays, by Michael Sears (Putnam); and The Professionals, by Owen Laukkanen (Putnam)

Best Paperback Original: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, by Susan Elia McNeal (Bantam)

Also nominated: Pago Pago Tango, by John Enright (Thomas & Mercer); Blessed Are the Dead, by Malla Nunn (Washington Square); The Other Woman’s House, by Sophie Hannah (Penguin); Bloodland, by Alan Glynn (Picador); and Beneath the Abbey Wall, by A.D. Scott (Atria)

Best Thriller: The Fallen Angel, by Daniel Silva (Harper)

Also nominated: The Last Refuge, by Ben Coes (St. Martin’s); The Right Hand, by Derek Haas (Mulholland); A Foreign Country, by Charles Cumming (St. Martin’s); House Blood, by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly); and Red Star Burning, by Brian Freemantle (Minotaur)

Don Sandstrom Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery Fandom: Ali Karim

DERRINGER AWARDS

The winners of these commendations were actually announced at the end of March, but the Derringer Awards themselves weren’t handed out until this evening.

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words): “The Cable Job,” by Randy DeWitt (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], September 2012)

Also nominated: “An Old-Fashioned Villain,” by Nick Andreychuk (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, May 2012); “Dead Man,” by A.J. Hayes (from Off the Record 2: At the Movies, edited by Luca Veste and Paul D. Brazill; Guilty Conscience); “’Twas the Knife Before Christmas,” by Allan Leverone (Shotgun Honey, December 24, 2012); “Daddy’s Girl,” by Nicola Kennington (The Flash Fiction Offensive, July 22, 2012)

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words): “Getting Out of the Box,” by Michael Bracken (from Crime Square, edited by Robert J. Randisi; Vantage Point)

Also nominated: “A Special Kind of Hell,” by Hilary Davidson (from Beat to a Pulp: Round Two, edited by David Cramer and Matthew P. Mayo; Beat to a Pulp); “Dead Weight,” by Allan Leverone (from Burning Bridges: A Renegade Fiction Anthology, edited by Benjamin Sobieck, Heath Lowrance, and McDroll; e-book); “Nain Rouge,” by Barbara Nadel (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], August 2012); and “Baby Boy,” by Todd Robinson (from Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT, edited by Thomas Pluck; Goombah Gumbo Press)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words): “When Duty Calls,” by Art Taylor (from Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)

Also nominated: “The Pot Hunters,” by David Hagerty (AHMM, June 2012); “A Regular Story,” by Peggy McFarland (from Best New England Crime Stories 2013: Blood Moon, edited by Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler; Level Best Books); “Peaches,” by Todd Robinson (Grift Magazine, April 2012); and “Double Wedding” Mo Walsh (from Best New England Crime Stories 2013: Blood Moon)

Best Novelette (8,001 – 20,000 words): “Wood-Smoke Boys,” by Doug Allyn (EQMM, March/April 2012)

Also nominated: “Iphigenia in Aulis,” by Mike Carey (from An Apple for the Creature, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner; Ace); “Mariel,” by David Dean (EQMM, December 2012); “Pirate Dave and the Captain’s Ghost,” by Toni L.P. Kelner (from An Apple for the Creature); and “The Sunny South,” by Chris Muessig (AHMM, March/April 2012)

Golden Derringer Award (for lifetime achievement):
Loren D. Estleman

Congratulations to all of the victors and other nominees.

Tracy’s Latest Conquest

This belated news bit comes from Mystery Fanfare:

On 7 September 2013, Dick Tracy won the Harvey Award for “Best Syndicated Strip or Panel.” The Harvey, named for legendary EC Comics artist Harvey Kurtzman, and given each year at the Baltimore Comics Convention, is one of two major awards in the comics industry, the other being the Eisner, named for Will Eisner, the creator of The Spirit, which is given at the San Diego Comics Convention. Of the two, however, only the Harvey has a category for newspaper strips.

You can find out more here.

“Goodbye” Says Hello to a Prize

Malcolm Mackay being honored during this weekend’s Scottish Crime Book of the Year ceremony. (Photo © 2013 by Alex Hewitt/Writer Pictures, used with permission.)

Our hard-working correspondent at the Bloody Scotland convention, Nancie Clare, reports that Malcolm Mackay has won this year’s Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year award for his second novel, How a Gunman Says Goodbye (Mantle).

Also shortlisted for that commendation were Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves (Pan); Pilgrim Soul, by Gordon Ferris (Corvus); The Red Road, by Denise Mina (Orion), The Vanishing Point, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown); and Standing in Another Man’s Grave, by Ian Rankin (Orion).

Congratulations to Mackay as well as the other nominees.

READ MORE: “Lewis Man, 31, Wins Top Crime Writer Award,”
by Emma Cowing (The Scotsman).

Knopf Nabs Nero

Connecticut author Chris Knopf has won the 2013 Nero Award for his standalone novel Dead Anyway (Permanent Press). He’ll receive his prize on December 7 of this year, during the Nero Wolfe Society’s annual Black Orchid Banquet.

Also in contention for the 2013 Nero were Antiques Disposal, by Barbara Allan (aka Max Allan Collins and his wife, Barbara; Kensington); Burning Midnight, by Loren D. Estleman (Forge); and The Truth of All Things, by Kieran Shields (Crown).

(Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)